Morgan Dana Harrington -- Found Deceased 1/26/10

Cops Say Whoever Killed Morgan Harrington Knew Tricky Farm Area

Virginia Police Ask for Help From Farm Area Residents

By EMILY FRIEDMAN
Feb. 4, 2010

Whoever killed Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington and left her body on a remote farm knew the tricky "obstacles" to get to the location, Virginia police said today.

Virginia State Police Lt. Joe Rader asked at a press conference today for people who live in the area to alert investigators to whoever was familiar with the roads and terrain there.

Rader said investigators believe the person or persons responsibile for Harrington's murder was familiar with the area on Anchorage Farm where the 20-year-old's body was found.

"People in the Anchorage Farm area, you know what goes on there, you know the history," said Rader. "You know who comes in and out of the vicinity and you might not realize it but you probably have some information for us that you don't even think is important."

"We encourage you, pick up the phone and call us," said Rader, also offering a special phone line, 434-709-1685 , that has been set up for tips.

Anchorage Farm is in Albemarle County about 10 miles south of where Harrington was last seen at a Metallica concert. Her body was discovered by the owner of the farm on Oct. 17. Harrington's death was ruled a homicide on Wednesday, but her cause of death has not yet been determined.

Rader went on to list several points of interest about the location and the significance of the location that he said he was offering in hopes of getting a response from the community.

Among the items in Rader's list was information about the "obstacles" that a person unfamiliar with the farm would have faced trying to get to the stop where Harrington was found.

"The choice of that particular location is quite different than if the person responsible had chosen the public highway or the shoulder," said Rader. "This particular location would have been a high risk location unless you're familiar with the area."

"People living in that area, this will mean something to you," Rader said cryptically.


Family and Friends of Harrington Suspect Foul Play by Local

Family and friends of Harrington have long been convinced that she was a victim of a murderer.

Jenna Testerman, one of Harrington's best friends, said that she knows Harrington would not have succumbed to a killer without putting up a fight.

"I really don't know what happened to her," Testerman told ABCNews.com, just days after the search for Harrington came to a grim ending with the discovery of her body. "She wasn't someone who would just wander off."

"But what I do know is that Morgan is a fighter and she would have fought to the death," said Testerman.

"We were all hoping that they were going to find her safe and while we knew it would take a lot of work to get Morgan back to normal, we just wanted her to be alive," said Testerman. "We just wanted her to give us one of her big hugs that she's known for."

Testerman said she is particularly feeling the loss. She and Harrington were part of a close-knit group of girlfriends who called themselves "The Nine." Some of the girls even got the number nine tattooed on their bodies as a symbol of their friendship when they all went off to college. Now they are eight.

"We just hope that she didn't have to go through any pain and that her killer showed her mercy and that she's up above in heaven looking down on us," said Testerman.

In a chilling blog entry on Jan. 31 on a Web site dedicated to Harrington, the girl's father, Dan Harrington, wrote about retrieving his dead daughter's body after months of hoping she'd be found alive.

"How could someone have erased so much of what Morgan was and reduced her to a jumbled heap of bones?" wrote Dan Harrington. "Who would ever have thought it would be mine to see every image of Morgan's life – from her first faint shadows on fetal ultrasound to the gaping orbital hollows in her skull? An abomination to witness this ending."

What Happened to Morgan Harrington After the Metallica Concert?
Few details have emerged about the night she went missing. Harrington had gone to a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville when she got separated from her friends, who believe she stepped outside for a smoke.

Harrington, who was wearing a black mini skirt, black tights and black boots as well as a black t-shirt with "Pantera" written on the front in tan letters, called her friends on a cell phone to say she was not allowed back inside.

Sarah Snead, who had accompanied Harrington and another friend to the concert, told WSLS in Raonake that she had been the one to receive the phone call telling them that she was stuck outside the arena.

"[She said] don't worry, I'll find a way home," said Snead.

Surveillance cameras at the concert caught Harrington getting turned away from several entrances as she tried to return to the conert. Later, witnesses told police they saw someone matching her description in a nearby grassy parking lot, and then walking on an adjacent road.

The morning after the concert, Harrington's purse and cell phone were found in that grassy field and later, her parents Dan and Gil Harrington, called police to report her missing.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/morgan-harringtons-killer-knew-obstacles-farm-area/story?id=9749253&page=1

Below is a video of a band named Here's to the Long Haul playing at Anchorage Farm. I'm not sure when the video was taken, but it was posted in December. A lot of people must be familiar with Anchorage Farm if they had parties with bands playing. It's chilling to think that Morgan's body may have been on the property at the time the band was playing and people were partying.

LIVE VIDEO at 3PM: Morgan Harrington memorial

By Matt Dooley

Published: February 5, 2010
Updated: February 5, 2010

Family and friends of Morgan Harrington will be held in Roanoke today. The ceremonies are open to the public and the media. The Mass will begin at 3:30 PM at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Roanoke. A reception in celebration of Morgan’s life will follow at the Hotel Roanoke.

WSLS.com will have a video stream of the ceremonies.

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/live_video_at_3pm_morgan_harrington_memorial/79333/

Friends and family gather to remember Morgan Harrington: 'She was not a perfect child, but she was an original'

Hundreds gathered to share their grief and celebrate the life of Morgan Harrington.

By Rex Bowman
Saturday, February 6, 2010

The friends and family of Morgan Harrington gathered at St. Andrew's Catholic Church on Friday to memorialize the zesty young woman known to her parents as "our child of light."

Seeking comfort in the somber cadences of Catholic prayer, more than 500 people braved snow and treacherous roads to pay tribute to the Roanoke County woman. Sharing the grief were friends of Harrington's from Northside High School, her classmates from Virginia Tech and strangers who never knew her but who followed the story of Harrington's disappearance and death in the media.

"She stood out in a crowd, not just because she was so beautiful with her long blond hair and her sparkling blue eyes, but because of something much deeper within her," said Father Steve McNally of the Church of the Transfiguration in Fincastle, who delivered the homily during the memorial Mass.

Harrington, 20, vanished from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville on Oct. 17. Her skeletal remains were found Jan. 26 in a hayfield in Albemarle County, 10 miles south of where she was last seen.

In her brief life, she was known for her passion for travel, fashion and music (from Jerry Garcia and the Beatles to Metallica); her hug-happy relationships with her friends and family; and the delight she took from working -- and playing -- with children. She aspired to be a teacher.

"I always said she was beautiful on the inside and out, and she truly was," her father, Dan Harrington, told those in the pews of St. Andrew's. "Morgan was an original. ... She was not a perfect child, but she was an original."

Following the memorial Mass, the family hosted a celebration of Harrington's life in a ballroom of Hotel Roanoke.

As a machine blew bubbles into the air, throngs watched a slide show of pictures of Harrington and gathered at a table where her belongings were displayed. The items included stiletto heels and cowboy boots, a red sequin dress, her passport, makeup kits and a blow dryer, sundry bracelets, baubles and an essay on the beach she had written in elementary school. (She received an A minus after misspelling "television.")

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/235623

Remembering Morgan Harrington

 

Why Harrington didn’t have to die

By Bryan McKenzie
Published: February 14, 2010

Hidden by tall grass in a lonely field, afflicted by animals and insects, through rain and sleet and beneath 2 feet of snow, Morgan Harrington lay for as long as three months.
It’s a kick to the gut to think that she wound up dead and dumped in the woods. It’s frightening and angering to believe that someone from this community — and it most likely is someone from this community considering the remote nature of where Ms. Harrington’s body was found — would kill her.
But the hardest thought, and the one we avoid discussing, is that it didn’t have to happen.

A cruel chain of events

OK, let’s get it straight: The person to blame for Ms. Harrington’s death is the low-life, slime-sickened, green-horned chicken hopper that killed her and put her in a pasture. What led to her death, however, was a chain of events in which any broken link could have changed the outcome.
The first link was Ms. Harrington’s condition the night of her Oct. 17 disappearance from a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena. Police have described her as intoxicated.
Unfortunately, alcohol use affects judgment and, had she not been intoxicated or less so, her judgments and actions may well have been very different. That may have precluded the second link.
The second link is Ms. Harrington walking out of the arena while intoxicated and, in keeping with arena policy, not being allowed back inside.

Had she not walked out, she would not have been in a position to be taken. Had the arena not had such a stringent policy, she would not have been taken. If she was visibly intoxicated, as some witnesses have suggested, arena staff or onlookers in the parking lot could have called police to report a student in “an altered state” leaving the building in clothes ill-suited for cool temperatures.
Had police picked her up on charges of public intoxication and safely held her in supervised custody, the outcome would have been different.
The third link is her message to three friends inside the concert. Ms. Harrington told them she was stuck outside and that she would find another way home, being as her friends had her car keys and her car.
Had one of the three friends left the concert to babysit the intoxicated friend, perhaps going to the nearby Italian Villa for breakfast and killing time until the concert ended, she would have had a ride home. She would have had company.
That would have precluded the fourth link, which is Ms. Harrington’s decision to hitchhike on the Copeley Road railroad bridge. There she became an easy target of opportunity for a killer.

Behavioral problems

That brings us to the fifth and final link, which is the killer himself. Had the killer sought psychiatric help for what should have stood out even to him as a mental problem, or had someone forced the issue and found him help, Ms. Harrington would be alive.
At the risk of preaching, let’s recap the lessons we should learn from what happened.
Do not go to parties or public events intoxicated so that you may keep your wits about you.
Change policies to protect rather than punish patrons, even it means calling police. Better a night in safety and a misdemeanor charge than being left to the wild pigs in the street.
Take care of your friends, even if they make you extremely angry and inconvenienced.
Avoid strangers when stranded and seek help from people in authority.
Control your urges. If you can’t, seek professional help.

Ms. Harrington’s death is a tragedy, but if it helps us change our behaviors, it need not be in vain.

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/columnists_bryan_mckenzie/article/why_harrington_didnt_have_to_die/52260/

Wow, J4A, that last article really gives one food for thought. It's human nature to want to blame someone or something when a tragedy happens. And it's scary to think that ONE lone action could have completely changed the whole course of events. I've never quite thought of any tragedy in exactly those terms.

But the writer is 100% correct.... while any one of the actions leading up to Morgan's death could possibly have have altered the outcome, the true blame lies with the sick monster who made the choice to take the life of this beautiful young woman.

Snaz, there are many of these tragedies where one even action would have altered the outcome, but you are right that the true blame lies with the SOB who chose to take Morgan's life. Almost everything in life could have been altered by one action, but once we take an action that doesn't work out the way we would like, we can't go back and take a different action.

Harringtons Visit Charlottesville, Talk with Police

February 18, 2010

Dan and Gil Harrington received an update from police Thursday in Charlottesville about the case of their daughter, Morgan. They say it could be five to six months until the medical examiner can release DNA analysis from Morgan's remains.

Dan and Gil Harrington visited Charlottesville Thursday to meet with police.

Investigators continue to look for the killer of their daughter, Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, and her parents are making it clear they think that person is in Charlottesville.

The Harringtons say it will take several months for the medical examiner to finish analyzing the DNA and toxicology reports. They visited the Copeley Road Bridge with determination and resolve following their meeting with police for an update.

"There is a bad guy here in Charlottesville who knows the region, who specifically knows the area around Anchorage Farm," Dan Harrington said.

Morgan has been laid to rest in Roanoke, but investigators are still analyzing Morgan's DNA. The Harringtons say it will take five to six months for toxicology results.

Her parents continue to come to grips with what happened. Gil Harrington wore the bracelet her daughter had on when she was found.

"It's as if you've had an amputation," Gil Harrington said. "And perhaps you learn to write with the non-dominant arm, but you never forget you're missing your right arm."

The Harringtons said they will continue coming back to the Copeley Road Bridge, the last place Morgan was seen alive, until they find justice.

"Evil just amazes me, that we have it around us, I guess," Dan Harrington said. "But we need to find the person that did this, and you may get tired and not come anymore, but this [memorial] ain't going away. This will be here until Morgan finds justice."

__________________________________________________________

Gil Harrington wrote a poem filled with poignant words from a mother's heart addressed to whoever took her daughter's life.

Morgan, Music Fan
by Gil Harrington

Our girl wanted to go out and dance
Didn't know she took such a chance
Just wanted to be part of the scene
Didn't know people could be so damn mean
That anyone would want to hurt her
He was checking the scene planning a murder
EVIL lurking, around the periphery
To kill and vanquish her beauty
EVIL like killed Lennon, King, JFK
Decided to take out a girl on that day
And threw her like refuse in a field of hay
Now I have felt the heft of her skull in my palm
An abomination for any mom
Your crime and your EVIL fill me with rage
We will not rest til you're locked in a cage
We will catch you, I know that we can
We're after you--me and Dan
So other girls will be safe on the street
To follow the music
To follow the beat

http://www.newsplex.com/news/headlines/84731632.html

I am in awe of those people. God bless them. I know in my heart they won't rest until her killer is brought to justice.

I get a sense of their enormous grief when reading their comments to the public. I, too, hope they catch the ba$tard that did this, and put an end to the evil POS.

What a poem! My heart goes out to them soooooooo much!

The Harrington's have shown such amazing grace in the face of the worst possible tragedy that can happen to a parent.

I pray they find justice for Morgan, so they can rest, knowing they did all they could humanly do, and that their beloved daughter can finally rest in peace.

God Bless Gil and Dan.

justice for Morgan.

These are some amazing people. How "classy" they are. I know a few others that need to take some notes...if you know what I mean.

DNA tests under way on body, Harringtons reveal in visit to C’ville

By Ted Strong
Published: February 19, 2010

Experts have enough tissue from Morgan D. Harrington to conduct several tests, though those tests could take many months, the parents of the slain college student said Thursday.

They made the statement after coming to Charlottesville to speak with police about the search for their daughter’s killer, addressing a small gathering of media on the bridge where their daughter was last reported alive.

According to the parents, officials are performing toxicology and DNA tests.

“You have to reconstitute them to then do your chemical assays on,” Gil Harrington, Morgan’s mother, said.

Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena in October.

The last reports police have of her alive indicate she was hitchhiking on the Copeley Road railroad bridge.

In January, an Albemarle County farmer found her remains in a pasture.

At the bridge, the Harringtons took several symbolic actions. Together, they cut away the three yellow ribbons — one for each month their daughter was missing — that they had tied on a pole. They will leave a black ribbon until her killer is found, they said.

Gil Harrington also displayed a bracelet that she had given her daughter. It was recovered with her remains.

“It wasn’t even a robbery,” Dan Harrington, her father, said.

The Harringtons said they have found some closure since their daughter’s funeral but know that life will never be the same.

“It’s as if you have had an amputation. … You never forget that you’re missing your right arm,” Gil Harrington said.

She said she’s been writing poetry to help her cope. She read one of her poems, which included the lines “Threw her like refuse in a field of hay” and “Now I have felt the heft of her skull.”

Dan Harrington said it’s important for community members to continue to help police with the case.

“There is a bad guy here in Charlottesville,” he said.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller referred all questions on scientific matters to the state medical examiner’s office, which could not be reached Thursday evening.

She said police continue to receive tips and conduct interviews.

A recent call for bicyclists who ride in the area where the body was discovered to contact authorities was instituted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of a blanket call for information and not in response to any specific intelligence, Geller said.

http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/state_regional/article/dna_tests_under_way_on_body_harringtons_reveal_in_visit_to_cville/52534/

Gil Harrington’s thoughts from February 26, 2010

February 26, 2010

Ashes in a cigar box. Morgan we have your ashes setting on our coffee table. They are stored in one of you granddad’s JGW cigar boxes. It seemed the right choice. We have several of them and use these boxes every day. Dad keeps change and keys and such on his dresser in a JGW cigar box. I store my tea and sweetener in a JGW cigar box on the kitchen counter and open it up every day. Alex has his filled with letters and photos. Predictably, you have used your JGW cigar box to store an assortment of funky jewelry.

Alex even found a photo of you as a baby playing with jewelry in a JGW cigar box. Never could I have imagined a reality where you would be inside the box – waiting for the right day to be sprinkled outside and returned to the earth.

I was starting to spiral into the vortex of grief and loss thinking. “we have only ashes left”. How can we snatch meaning from Morgan’s ashes?- but remembered that ashes can be used to make cinderblocks which can be used to build strong foundations – for good – for education here at VTC and in Africa with OMNI School and who knows what else. We will pledge your ashes, mix and use your ashes as well as we can, to create some substantive good from this tragedy and in so doing honor the light that was Morgan Dana Harrington.

241

http://findmorgan.com/family-blog/gil-harringtons-thoughts-from-february-26-2010

Morgan Harrington's Mom Warns of "Sadistic Monster"


Posted: 9:39 AM Mar 17, 2010


Five months to the day after her daughter disappeared while attending a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Morgan Harrington's mom wrote a soul-baring account of her feelings, saying a "sadistic monster" is walking free.

Morgan, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, vanished on October 17 after leaving the concert at JPJ.

Her body was found in January at an isolated spot on Anchorage Farm, a few miles south of Charlottesville. Police say she was murdered but have made no arrests and have offered little new information about the crime and their investigation in weeks.

Here is what Gil Harrington wrote in her blog on FindMorgan.com:

"The nights can be difficult. When you are between sleep and wake your defenses dip and then unwanted thoughts and images come roaring in. I try not to think of how scared you were, the terror you felt. I try not to think of how much pain you were in as you were slaughtered.

Were you still alive when they brought you to Anchorage Farm? To be hunted like a deer running frantically over the hay stubble in the field desperate to escape, trying to survive, crying, screaming, I see it. I hear it. Or, were you brought there already dead, like a slab of meat, carrion to be discarded and dumped in the field to rot - just another carcass in the hunting preserve.

These images haunt me at night. During the day I can usually shake them off and focus on our job, trying to find your murderer. Other girls are in danger while this sadistic monster walks free. We will never rest until he is put away. Morgan will you help us, in what ever way you can to remove his evil from the world?

http://www.newsplex.com/news/headlines/88164177.html

Dan and Gil Harrington speak at John Paul Jones Arena five months after Morgan's disappearance

by Brendan Fitzgerald
March 17th 03:22pm



Saint Patrick's Day marks five months since Morgan Harrington disappeared during a concert by Metallica at John Paul Jones Arena. Nearly two months since their daughter's remains were found on Anchorage Farm in Albemarle County, Dan and Gil Harrington returned to Charlottesville today to speak with press.

"We come to Charlottesville about every two to three weeks. And we don't always meet with folks like you," said Dan Harrington, referring to members of the press. The family visits Charlottesville roughly every two or three weeks. "But we will continue to meet. And we are meeting with police on a regular basis."

"It is easy to be complacent," added Dan Harrington. "Five months is a long time, and I think it's important for us to remembe that we need to keep it in the forefront of the public. And we will, as much as we can."

Dan Harrington then distributed a list titled "Missing and/or Murdered in Virginia," featuring the names of 18 individuals, including Morgan, reported missing or dead since August 28, 2009. Gil Harrington also shared her perceptions of the person she deems responsible for her daughter's death, saying that there is a "man-monster in Charlottesville" who "makes sport out of killing."

http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1991704080566501&act=post&pid=12031703100486107

Parents of slain Virginia Tech student believe murder is related to Colonial Parkway killings

 

The parents of the Virginia Tech student who was kidnapped and murdered after a Charlottesville concert are now worried her killing is part of a larger crime spree.

Her father said the murder could even be related to the Colonial Parkway killings.

Today Gil Harrington went to the Copley Bridge in Charlottesville, the last place her daughter Morgan was seen alive.

She placed a chrome angel atop a spreading memorial. She chose this sculpture because it is featureless. It's not just for Morgan, but for a number of young women mostly who have vanished or who've been slain in a series of unsolved crimes.

"This is not his first crime. He has upped his game in a significant and disturbing way," Gil Harrington said.

Morgan's father distributed a map showing the disappearances or murders of several people like Morgan in the past year. He's also aware of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, the victim of an unknown highway stalker in the Charlottesville area. In the mid 1990s, a man targeted women on Rt. 29. Morgan's body was found not far from where Reynold's remains were dumped more than a decade earlier. Dan Harrington thinks the cases may be related.

"We have discussed that with police. They have not commented nor committed that Morgan's death is connected to that, but clearly it is being considered. It is also being considered with the Colonial Parkway Murders," he said.

Many people, including family members of Colonial Parkway victims, have suspected the killer who took eight lives in our area migrated in the 1990s to the Charlottesville area, where the highway stalkings frightened a dozen women and ended in Reynold's murder.

"There are a lot of unsolved crimes in Virginia in the last 15 years. To me, it is quite frightening that those things remain unsolved," Dan Harrington added.

Today Morgan's parents also revealed the killer severely battered the student before her death. They said the damage to her skeleton was horrifying.

"This Charlottesville man hurt Morgan Harrington enough to break her bones before he murdered her. I cannot get the image of Morgan's shattered bones out of my mind."

Gil Harrington believes the killer is from the Charlottesville area, but police have not named any suspects.

Morgan's parents worry the killer is stalking other women in the area around the UVA campus.

Harrington's parents say if someone does not turn him in, he will surely strike again.

http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-morgan-harrington-cp-murders,0,6816155.story

The image of Morgan's shattered bones will forever be in their minds. They are so strong, my heart goes out to them. I hate to think of Morgan's death being so brutal, as far as shattered bones. I wonder if the damage would be consistent with being hit by a car or truck?